During Monday’s UFC press conference in Japan too announce the promotions new distribution deal in that country with TV Bank and NTT Plala, Zuffa’s Asian Executive Vice President and Managing director Mark Fischer was asked when the UFC would return to Japan.
Fischer and the UFC hope to have something in place by the end of 2011 or by early 2012 to hold their first event since December 1997, when the promotion held its’ UFC Ultimate Japan event in Yokohama, Japan.
The Asian Exec noted that they have a lot of work to do first and a few obstacles to overcome before an announcement can be made, but for right now they want to grow their fan base in Japan by providing access to their live events.
“Japan is the most advanced and important market for us in Asia so far. We definitely want to hold a major event in Japan as soon as possible. I would say that we’re not ready to announce anything yet but we very much hope to have [an event] later this year or early next year in Japan…It’s a step-by-step process. It doesn’t happen overnight. We want to build up a good fan base, grow our media exposure, and we want fighters from different nationalities in the UFC before marketing to that nation and bringing in the big event. That big event will be more successful then, and I think that’s what we’re doing here in Japan.”
HT: MMAFighting.com